Robert Morris basketball teams set for 1st Horizon League playoffs
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As the Robert Morris men’s basketball team prepared to enter the sudden death portion of an unpredictable first Horizon League season, one theme pressed coach Andy Toole’s psyche.
“Focus.”
Toole’s bluntness spoke volumes as the seemingly outmanned Colonials, who have lost four of five overtime games in their first year in the Horizon, entered Thursday night’s first-round Horizon Tournament game at Detroit Mercy with hopes of salvaging some pride and perhaps even getting on a roll.
“We’re looking for our best 40-minute effort of the season. Period,” Toole said.
The winner moves to the quarterfinal round Tuesday; the loser goes home.
It marks the third consecutive game at Calihan Hall in Detroit between the teams, No. 5 seed Detroit Mercy (11-9) having swept No. 12 Robert Morris (4-12) in a weekend doubleheader Friday and Saturday in the final regular-season contests.
Robert Morris, since returning from its latest covid pause in mid-January, has lost 11 of 12 games.
“We’re a little more familiar with them, but then, I imagine they are with us, too,” Toole said. “We saw a couple different things, so we know they can pull things out of their bag. We just have to able to recognize it and adjust. It’s hard.
“When people take advantage of those moments when you have a letdown or lack the proper execution, if you’re a step slow or a step late, people will capitalize.”
Toole hoped his players, too, would take advantage of any missteps by the Titans.
“You never know when the light bulb is going to go on,” he said.
Robert Morris again must contend with Detroit Mercy guard Antoine Davis, who leads the Horizon League in scoring with an average of 23.3 points and averaged 27.5 in the recent two-game series with the Colonials, despite shooting just 37.5 percent (15 for 40).
But he was a perfect 18 for 18 from the free-throw line in the Detroit Mercy victories of 85-74 and 80-61.
On the women’s side, No. 9 Robert Morris (4-12) also opens its first Horizon League Tournament on Thursday with a first-round game at No. 8 Northern Kentucky (7-10).
Freshman forward Sol Castro leads Robert Morris in scoring (9.9 ppg), rebounding (5.4 rpg) and minutes played (28.6 mpg). The most recent freshman to lead the Colonials in scoring and rebounding was Sugeiry Monsac in 2004-05.
While a member of the Northeast Conference a year ago, Robert Morris captured the men’s tournament championship to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the women’s tournament semifinals before the coronavirus pandemic halted both seasons.
It’s been a different scenario for both with the move this season to the more highly regarded Horizon.
“It’s been an interesting year,” Toole said. “The basketball part of it, the coaching tendencies from guys you haven’t gone against, the venues, it’s been fun. But it’s been hard for us to make adjustments because we’re still trying to figure out what we need.
“There’s a number of guys in our program that need to make improvement in the offseason, and there’s a need for better recruiting. We’re seeing a bigger-sized player at every position. Our wings and guards are very undersized.”
The Detroit Mercy men’s team recovered from a 1-7 start by winning 10 of its next 12 games, including the two victories against Robert Morris.
Robert Morris has been without leading scorer AJ Bramah, who entered the NCAA transfer portal following a Feb. 6 overtime loss to Youngstown State. Bramah left having been ranked among the Horizon leaders in multiple statistical categories, including scoring (21.0 ppg) and rebounding (10.3 rpg).
Senior guard Jon Williams (10.3 ppg) is the only remaining Robert Morris player to average double figures in scoring. He leads the Horizon in 3-point field goal percentage (42.7) and assist-to-turnover ratio (4.15).
In the two losses at Detroit Mercy last weekend, senior forward Charles Bain averaged 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while converting 51.7 percent (15 for 29) for Robert Morris.
“We want to see the best focus for 40 minutes that we’ve seen all year,” Toole said. “That’s what we need, guys making alert plays. We’ve seen it in spurts, which is a good thing but also a frustrating thing at times. It’s frustrating because we just keep asking, ‘Why can’t we do this all the time?’ ”